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manifest that He is excepted which did put all things under Him" is echoed by a similar
argument in Hebrews "He left nothing that is not put under Him" and indicates identity of
authorship.
5.) "The just shall live by faith."
These words are taken from Habakkuk, and are found in Romans, Galatians and
Hebrews, and nowhere else in the N.T. The apostle does not quote the actual words
found in Habakkuk, but gives his own rendering. The words found in Rom. 1: 17 and in
Heb. 10: 38 are identical. This is just another evidence of identical authorship.
6.) In Galatians Paul allegorizes, and uses the record of Genesis concerning Ishmael
and Isaac to enforce the difference between Jerusalem that is below and in bondage and
Jerusalem that is above and free (Gal. 4: 21-31). A similar use of Sinai with its
blackness and darkness and Mount Sion with its angels and firstborn manifests the same
hand (Heb. 12: 18-26).
In The Christian for 27th April and 4th May, 1916, there appeared two articles by
J. W. Thirtle, LL.D., wherein the writer sought to show that the epistle to the Hebrews
"in very early times followed that to the Galatians". Quoting from this interesting article:
"What, in reality, do we find? Just this--two epistles or writings, in close succession,
in a professedly Pauline section of the New Testament, are merely separated or divided
off, the one from the other, by the words pros Hebraious--`to Hebrews'."
The writer proceeds to give evidence to prove that the epistle to the Galatians is the
"covering letter" and the epistle to the Hebrews is an "enclosure" written especially for
the Hebrew believer in the churches of Galatia. The reader is referred to these articles for
the details and evidence brought forward. Parallels between the two epistles are
suggested; the quotation of Hab. 2: 4 in Gal. 3: 2 and Heb. 10: 38; the covenant
teaching of Gal. 3: 15-17; 4: 24; Heb. 8: 6-11; 9: 15-20; 10: 16. Both epistles deal
with mediatorship (Gal. 3: 19, 20; Heb. 8: 6; 9: 15; 12: 24). Gal. 4: 26 speaks of
the Jerusalem that is above, Heb. 12: 22 of the heavenly Jerusalem.
Leaving much that is of interest and help unquoted, we ask the reader's attention to
another parallel which immediately comes to our mind. In Gal. 3: 3 the apostle asks:
"Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the spirit, are ye now PERFECTED in the flesh?
Have ye suffered so many things in vain? If it be indeed in vain."
This is practically the question dealt with in Hebrews. The Galatians were in danger
of being led back to bondage; to avoid persecution the Judaizers constrained them to be
circumcised, and to such the apostle's words are very severe; however, there were some
whose attitude towards the flesh enabled them to be designated as the "Israel of God", the
name given to Jacob when the hollow of his thigh was withered, and who, after that
mighty change, limped in evidence that his spiritual gain meant "no confidence in the
flesh".